Organocatayzed Oxa-Diels-Alder Reactions: Recent Progresses

Oxa-Diels-Alder reaction is a straightforward, atom-economical process for the construction of six membered oxa-cycle which is a privileged structure due to its omnipresence in several pharmaceuticals and natural products. Like many other asymmetric transformations, organocatalysis provides an elegant pathway to their synthesis via [4+2] annulation under mild reaction conditions. The oxa-Diels reactions either utilize α,β-unsaturated carbonyl as oxadiene with a suitable dienophile or simple carbonyl as dienophile with other dienes. A range of organocatalysts have been explored in the past decade to execute this strategy. The catalysts induce stereoselectivities via two basic reactivities: 1) Formation of chiral intermediates, 2) Selectively activating suitable reactants in transition state. The present review assembles organocatalyzed asymmetric oxa-Diels-Alder reactions published in last ten years’ time span with detailed discussion on mechanistic approaches.

En Route to a Chiral Melanin: The Dynamic “From-Imprinted-to-Template” Supramolecular Role of Porphyrin Hetero-Aggregates During the Oxidative Polymerization of L-DOPA

Chiral porphyrin hetero-aggregates, produced from meso-tetrakis(4-N-methylpyridyl) porphyrin H2T4 and copper(II) meso-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin CuTPPS by an imprinting effect in the presence of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), are shown herein to serve as templates for the generation of chiral structures during the oxidative conversion of the amino acid to melanin. This remarkable phenomenon is suggested to involve the initial role of L-DOPA and related chiral intermediates like dopachrome as templates for the production of chiral porphyrin aggregates. When the entire chiral pool from DOPA is lost, chiral porphyrin hetero-aggregate would elicit axially chiral oligomer formation from 5,6-dihydroxyindole intermediates in the later stages of melanin synthesis. These results, if corroborated by further studies, may open unprecedented perspectives for efficient strategies of asymmetric melanin synthesis with potential biological and technological applications.

Continuous-flow protocol for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure intermediates of anti epilepsy and anti tuberculosis active pharmaceutical ingredients

Continuous-flow production of chiral intermediates plays an important role in the development of building blocks for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), being α-amino acids and their derivatives widely applied as building blocks.

Biocatalytic access to nonracemic γ-oxo esters via stereoselective reduction using ene-reductases

α,β-Unsaturated γ-keto esters were asymmetrically reduced by ene-reductases to yield versatile chiral intermediates in up to 99% ee.